Tixel further expands its festival footprint in the UK as summer season approaches

17 June 2024 - Press release

The premium marketplace announces the extension of its fan-to-fan trading services of tickets across festivals to Cross The Tracks, Wide Awake, Project 6 and more

 

Tixel, the honest resale marketplace has today announced the expansion of its remit to Cross The Tracks, Wide Awake and Project 6 and City Splash, part of Brockwell Live series in London.  This comes as an addition to its partnership with a range of Superstruct UK festivals including Boardmasters, Kendal Calling, Tramlines Festival, Truck Festival, and Y Not Festival, for which Tixel is already the exclusive resale platform,

The news comes as Tixel scales at pace since launching operations in the UK in 2021, seeing 97% growth year-on-year in events trading on the platform between ‘22 and ’23.

Matt Kaplan, Tixel’s Head of UK/EU said, “We’re honoured to work with Brockwell Live and SuperstructUK, companies with a phenomenal portfolio of some of the most loved and unique festivals in the world.Boardmasters festival was one of our foundational entries into the UK festival market back in 2021, and seeing our collaboration with festivals expand is something we are incredibly proud of. Our model thrives thanks to a shared passion with our partners for unrivalled experiences for fans, every step of the way. We understand fans demands, buying behaviours and more, and applying our expertise to festival campaigns means the festival teams get real added value and a secure and trusted place for fans to resell tickets. This in turn encourages earlier purchases. Helping this awesome portfolio of festivals to push boundaries, elevate their campaigns and maximise value year-on-year, is something we remain super excited about.”

A recent survey, conducted to discover the most valuable aspects of Tixel for organisers of festivals and day events, found that organisers want to give fans a safe, secure and fair resale option, save time by not having to process transfers, refunds, and name changes and amongst other factors, see the demand of events beyond sold out. Tixel is a safe, secure, and fair ticket resale marketplace for fans that saves organisers from spending time on refund, transfer and name change requests. Its integrations with primary ticketing companies automate time-consuming tasks and create a seamless and safe experience for fans. Tixel gives organisers complete control and visibility of their resale market, while helping unlock new revenue and fan data. With direct integrations with major ticketing platforms across the globe, Tixel is able to eliminate fraud and double-scanning by reissuing new tickets for events when they are on-sold. 

Through this, festivals are enabled to offer a consistent experience to fans regardless of which event they attended or where they purchased primary tickets. The partnership includes direct technology integrations that facilitate essential functions like real-time, accurate ticket validation on all tickets listed, (eliminating fakes and/or speculative listings) and the ability for a buyer to list and sell a ticket before ticket barcodes have even been distributed.

Andrew Topham, CEO and Founder of Boardmasters Festival said, “Partnering with Tixel helps us to offer flexibility to fans when their plans change and ensure those that missed out on buying tickets the first time around can purchase resale tickets safely and securely. We have a great relationship with the Tixelteam and work closely together to maximise our fan experience and marketing campaigns.” 

Andy Smith, Kendal Calling Co-Founder added, "Tixel has allowed festival goers to purchase with the ease of mind that selling their ticket can be just as easy as buying it in the first place, while allowing us to accurately monitor the secondary ticketing market, maximising our on-site footfall and increasing revenue as a result."

Jack Robinson from Brockwell Live / Pack London said, “With social media being full of fake accounts continuously trying to scam festival goers in the comments, Tixel provides a great service where it's very easy for people to resell their tickets with confidence. It also provides the promoters accurate information on how many tickets are being sold and what kind of pricing people are looking to pay. Customers will always be looking to resell tickets or find a bargain and without embracing products like Tixel it's impossible for people to know the difference between genuine ticket sellers and well-crafted scam accounts.”

Last year through Tixel, participating Superstruct UK festivals including Boardmasters, Kendal Calling, Tramlines Festival, Truck Festival and Y Not Festival were able to offer a secure platform for audiences to resell tickets, while also creating a commercially successful partnership for the festivals on a large scale. The season saw Tixel move over 15,000 tickets seamlessly with a consistent fan experience across 8 events and 4 different ticketing platforms. The platform provided direct access to fans with intent to buy tickets, reducing refund requests and opening new sales channels for festival promoters to drive revenue, as well as offering bespoke solutions for complex operational setups. This year, Tixel’s offering broadens further to Brockwell Live Superstruct UK as more world-leading festivals join their roster.

As a representation of the new preferences and behaviours of live music and entertainment consumers,Tixel released research last month, discovering that the desire for purchase flexibility has shifted from trend to ingrained habit as busy ticket buyers call for greater flexibility when spending. Over ⅔ of us are more likely to make a purchase if there is the option to re-sell later and 81% suggest they find it annoying or off-putting when there is a lack of resale options. And while there are tons of factors that influence the decision to sell a ticket, calendar clashes tops the lot for ¼ of those surveyed. Interestingly, even amidst the cost of living crisis, the lure of liquidating cash spent on tickets rarely drives event-goers to give up tickets. Download the full report here.